Metal Gear: The Stealth Series That Exists Because a Computer Was Too Weak
In 1987, the MSX2 could not show enough bullets for a good shooting game, so Hideo Kojima made players hide instead. From that limit came one of gaming's strangest, most influential sagas.
Most action games are built around shooting. Metal Gear was built around not shooting, and the reason was technical. In 1987, a young Konami designer named Hideo Kojima was making a military action game for the MSX2 home computer. The hardware could only show a limited number of bullets and enemies on screen, which made combat feel thin. So Kojima changed the idea: instead of a soldier fighting his way through, the hero would be a prisoner sneaking his way out.
That decision created the stealth genre as we know it, and a series that has now sold 66.4 million units as of June 2026. This year it also got its most complete re-release yet. Here is the story of Metal Gear, from a weak computer to the present.
The MSX years
The original Metal Gear came out on the MSX2 in 1987, and its sequel, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, followed in Japan in 1990. Both put Solid Snake inside enemy fortresses where being seen was usually worse than fighting. Guards had vision cones, alarms called reinforcements, and the smartest route was often the quietest.
Metal Gear Solid and the PlayStation years
The series became a phenomenon in 1998. Metal Gear Solid on the PlayStation, which debuted at the 1996 Tokyo Game Show, moved Snake into 3D and told a cinematic story with voice acting, long cutscenes and a habit of breaking the fourth wall. It was one of the games that convinced people that video games could be told like films.
The PS2 sequels pushed further. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (November 2001) surprised and divided players with its twists and its themes about information and control. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004) moved to a 1960s jungle with camouflage and survival systems, and is often called the best in the series.
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots wrapped up Solid Snake's story on PS3 in 2008, and Peace Walker (April 2010) brought the series to the PSP with co-op play and base-building.
The Phantom Pain and Kojima's exit
Metal Gear Solid V arrived in two parts: Ground Zeroes in 2014 and The Phantom Pain in 2015, an open-world game with remarkable freedom in how you approached each mission. It was also the end of an era. In 2015, as the game neared release, Konami was already recruiting staff for a new Metal Gear while Kojima left the company. He went on to found his own studio and make Death Stranding.
Konami's first game without him, Metal Gear Survive (2018), was a survival spin-off with zombies. It scored 54 to 62 on Metacritic and sold only a fraction of The Phantom Pain. For several years after that, the series seemed finished.
The revival
It was not. In May 2023, Konami announced Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, a full remake of MGS3. It launched in 2025 for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S and scored 85 on PS5 and 83 on PC and Xbox on Metacritic, a solid welcome back.
The re-releases have been just as important. Master Collection Vol. 1 (October 24, 2023) gathered the early games, and Master Collection Vol. 2 followed on August 27, 2026, with the **first port of Metal Gear Solid 4** off the PS3, the HD version of Peace Walker and the Game Boy Color game Metal Gear: Ghost Babel as a bonus. For the first time in 18 years, Solid Snake's final chapter can be played on modern hardware.
A film adaptation is also in development. In April 2026, Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein took over as directors, and Oscar Isaac said he was no longer attached.
Why it matters
Stealth in games, from Splinter Cell to Assassin's Creed to the sneaking sections in almost every modern action game, traces back to that MSX2 limit. Metal Gear also showed that a game could be personal, political and very weird at the same time.
WGC's take: the revival has been careful rather than bold, and Delta is a remake rather than a new story. But getting MGS4 onto modern consoles is a genuine win for game preservation.
What to play next: Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater on PC, PS5 or Xbox Series X|S is the best place to start. Then, for the full saga, the two Master Collection volumes cover almost everything.